Mabinogi: Iria Sagas 1 and 2

[Part of my Mabinogi Tutorials.]

I know I'm incredibly late with these but really, if you've played through all the generations in order there shouldn't be much here that would phase you, what with your transformation and demigod skills. Half the time you are role playing someone else anyway so dying is not really a biggie, just a learning curve. Furthermore, it's all completable solo (and I think mandatory solo too). Still there are a few tips I can think of to make life easier:

How to Start:
Just pick an episode from this button. You can only have one episode active at a time.

Monster Lag and Space
Sometimes you enter a mission and all the NPCs seem stuck in place but you are free to do whatever. This is more prevalent in quests with lots of NPCs and big spaces. I believe it also happens more often in busier channels so if you want a helping had on hard quests try start it from there. Regardless if they are moving or not most of the quests give you a lot of room to work with so bring a bow or whatever ranged attacks you like and be proficient with your pet revolver and mount summoning / stuns / knock backs. Yes, this makes some really tough fights pretty inconsequential. Especially if you have a strong spirit bow. Muahahahaha. It won't happen all the time, but just be aware you have some control over it.

Shyllien Nature Reserve and Hillwen Mine
You have to go into these two for the first saga to collect stuff. Both have lots multiaggro enemies so be prepared and be careful. Lure and kill. You can even bring friends to help if you like.

Retreat to Vales (S1 E3)
In this mission you must escort NPC engineers from the mine to the city and it obviously won't work if they are suffering from Monster Lag (above). Get into an instance where they can walk and ignore the large skirmish against the White Dragon, you'll get to fight it soon enough. Patiently kill all the goons that appear in your way (they might be late) and you will be fine.

The End of Bhafel (S1 E6)
One of those annoying role play missions, make sure you use the potion to run faster and put up mana shield. Also knowing when to final hit is key. Try save it for the last two pillars (or patiently wait for the recharge) as those ancient ghosts will get annoying.

Macha (S1 E10)
She's a bit of a pushover for an end boss. Pet revolver or using a mount to kick her while you are landing fast attacks will take her down in no time (61 hits and she's done). Shylock's step and final hit with little knives will probably do this fastest.

Last Attempt (S2 E1)
The most irritating shadow mission of the entire saga, you play as yourself with no powers and crappy stats. So crappy that any of the boars can kill you in one or two hits. Way to go hero! While giants and elves might be fast enough to actually do the stone throwing thing and then climbing ladders this is what worked for me as a human (slowest race in game) - without throwing one stone:

• Look straight ahead, lure single boar off to the left and open with defense. Combo three hits and it leaves. Now switch to weapons slot 2 (bare hands).
• Get attention of 1 boar, climb up ladder when it gets close.
• Immediately jump back down as it loses aggro and rush it with your fists (fast hitting). Combo three and it leaves.
• Repeat until boss boar appears at which point you should switch back to slot 1 sword and shield.

Aliens and Balloons (S2 E3)
When you encounter the alien blobs, only target the alien map eater as all damage you do to all aliens hurts yourself too. Be prepared with health pots. Also for the balloon part, you can get away with using the "forward ballista" (1st one where wyverns spawn) then switching to the one to its left when you are out of targets. Don't move from that position, instead swivel the gun from side to side to gun down the enemies. When the enemy balloon appears you might need to switch again.

Snowfield Pursuit (S2 E4)
This skiing mission looked like it would be fun if it didn't make me fail after 5 seconds of entering with the enemy distance of ???. How to get around it? Use Ch1 and monster lag that sled for a 5 second win.

Dian Cecht (S2 E5)

I've spotted a weakness in her defense! *drool*

With her poor armor choice the only thing defending her really are her magic crystal shield generators. Just break those (faster with a pet) and then you can do what you want with her.

Final Fights (S2 E6)
There are lots of tough fights in the final episode of the second saga. Cessair's Heart, the Cessair Army and Ruairi. Guess which one is the hardest? If you said the Cessair Army you are correct. Handling multiaggro in this game is tough, and tougher still with dozens of respawning enemies who can use advanced magic, wire pull and final hit. Be prepared to run as your allies aren't enough to distract all the bad dudes.

Ruairi can be problematic because of his dopplegangers (again multiaggro) so try lure and fight him at an edge where fewer of his shades can find you. Also, you should abide by his decision and go all out. I found him more dangerous in his first form than his second. For all the aforementioned, I suggest you get ready to demi-up.

Cessair's Heart on the other hand is a decent fight but she's alone so your regular transformation should be more than enough to get past her.

Grinding EXP And Gold
You can replay episodes for 5000 gold, which also means you can grind their rewards. The two "best" ones I would think would be:

The Missing (S2 E2)
You need to: Solve easy puzzles, travel in Uladh (gates open all the time now), argue/fight easy pirates, fight dragon (which you don't need to live through)
Reward: 100K+ XP, 50k Gold

Heroic Path: The Choice (S1 E7)
You need to: Do 1 talky RP mission, 1 combat RP mission, 1 shadow mission of running away, travel a little in Iria (best with flight + gate timing)
Reward: 100K+ XP (Daily Bonus on Thursday and Weekends gains another 100k XP and 30k gold)

Generation 1 Tips (Part One) - The Stoned Goddess

Now that you've had (over) 7 days worth of classes it's probably time to start the first main story arc: Generation 1! In the next few posts I'll give some quick tips to get through the "dangerous" parts of Generation 1! I am assuming you've been through the beginner battle class board sessions prior to doing this.


Grave of the Snowman
Any time you need to go into the snowy region North of Tir Chonail (which will be a lot) be wary of the coyotes. They have wolf AI but can tear a low level player up quickly if you don't fight well. My suggestion is avoid them and jog past them, preferably NOT in combat mode as it makes them aggro faster.

Alby RP (fastest to solo as Ruairi)
Nothing here should pose a threat to your character, so certainly nothing will be a problem for the overpowered Ruairi. Drink up the ultra speed potion and crush the spiders and bats into oblivion. Remember, all the spiders and bats you encounter in all of G1 only know defense and have single aggro. The bats will also never attack first.

Barri Black Wizard (fastest with help)
May want to bring help here if you are still new to the game as you'll probably be meeting new types of opponents for the first time.

Gremlins (various)
Dangerous hard hitting bastards. Ideally magnum shot them from the adjoining room or hallway since they have low HP. Ice bolts work well too. If you have to melee them avoid using defense and instead use counter/wm and normal attacks. When they fly around like spastic idiots don't chase them as they'll usually get first hit in - instead load up a windmill.

Flying Sword
If you don't use magic on them, they aren't that bad and will only attack one at a time. If you can't slay them in one combo, defend often to block their strikes or lightning bolts.
Wisp - harder to read than the average monster (may pay to study their language) and hits moderately hard. Lure them if required to deal with them one at a time.

Black Wizard
Can be a big danger for low-mid level players. If you are opting to have ranged combat you'd better make sure your shots hit (hope you brought a longbow too). If he fully charges firebolt it's around 500 damage if it connects (I know from experience! :P). Otherwise close in and tear him up as fast as you can to prevent him chain firebolting you, but don't do that if his wisps are nearby - lure them first.

In Mabinogi, all black wizards are evil.

Rabbie RP (solo as Tarlach)
Featuring possibly your first encounter with skeletons in enclosed spaces, Tarlach is not so good at melee though and is not the guy to practice fighting skelies with. Fastest and safest way to clear this is to use the ultra speed potion and make use of 3221 icebolt on everything. If you don't know what that is, it is a good time to learn: Charge 5 ice bolts, fire 3 at baddie, charge one, fire two, charge one, fire two, charge one, fire one. If the situation allows though, always charge back up to five.

Math RP (fastest to solo as Mores - twice)
The most fun RP dungeon in this story arc. Fastest way to clear everything is again the ultra speed potion and this time because Mores has chain casting, use lightning bolt on everything. More fun if they are standing clustered together.

Ciar (as of this post bugged and must be run solo - don't forget to touch the end statue to finish this quest section)
Since you're going in alone I suggest you bring a good stock of healing pots, bandages, a shield and if you aren't a giant - a longbow, arrows and 5 pieces of firewood. Just to cover what's in here if you haven't tried the dungeon prior to this quest:

Goblins and Goblin archers
You'll encounter mixed aggro here with them, try to prioritise the archers first and if your windmill is good enough, use that to clear them out quick. If you have a pet, don't forget you can use it to help. You can out bow them if you're carrying a long bow and have an empty corner to work with as their aggro range does not cover the entire room.

Skeletons
They can hit hard as you may have seen in Tarlach's RP earlier, and this bunch also carry bows. However given that the boss room door is open (giving you space to flee) you can just magnum shot them to death - they only run as fast as you and if you go far enough, they get bored and return to idling. Alternatively you can just melee them too as they have no armor. Don't wake up the golem while doing this though! If a skelie is not moving you may as well load up counter or windmill. Usually they run around like idiots though so you can catch them with normal attacks. You probably will want a good shield (kite or better) if you are going to attempt defense to parry them though.

Golem
This is the second weakest golem in the game but can still cause problems with its windmill and stomp attacks. It is unwise to fight it while fighting skeletons so lure it or its buddies to fight them one at a time. This big boy can easily outrun you though, even an elf so don't try to escape unless you've got a fast steed. If you are opting to shoot it to death I recommend using a camp fire to gain fire arrows (x2 damage). Otherwise if you are going to be upclose, bring a shield and fight well as he can KO you really quickly. Don't panic too much, if you die you can always respawn at the goddess statue and try again. You'll be facing a slightly stronger variant in Fiodh soon.

Another Soul in the Stream

The first of my Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)

Mabi follows the free to play (but you get more stuff if you pay) schematic, and if this is your first time logging into the game I strongly suggest going with the free human character card they give you first - even if you ultimately want to play as an elf or a giant. You then need to pick what server you will play on - this is very important as you cannot switch around later on. If you are trying to join friends be sure to pick the same one they are on (duh), otherwise the choice is yours:

Mari is the oldest and has the highest population and probably the highest level players all around. Alexina is the newest, and most probably has the lowest population and lowest number of "high level" dudes. Tarlach and Ruairi are in between those two. If you want to personally say hi to me in-game, you can find me at Ruairi. :)

Next you actually create how your character looks like. Since it's a free card you are using, you will be limited from majority of the facial expressions and hairstyles but you can fix that later (if you really want to spend money on it) so again, don't worry too much. Your name however, cannot be changed later so pick one you are happy with.

Age is not so much an issue in the game as you will want to constantly cycle back (you'll understand why as you play). To keep it simple pick your age based on how often you can / will play. If you are going to be very active start at age 17 which I think is the oldest you can pick. If you only play once a week start at age 10. I'll explain why in a later post.

All that is left is to select your start point: I recommend Uladh / Tir Chonail if you want to play as a human. If you are really dying to play a giant or elf straight away start at Iria / Qilla. Once you are happy with everything go ahead and finish the creation process.

Hello Boobs.. I mean... World!

After talking to Mabinogi's resident guardian angel you will be asked what destiny you wish to follow. I suggest Warrior (not Fighter) first but you can pick whatever takes your fancy. Afterwards you will soon be dropped into your selected starting spot and beset by owls dropping tons of stuff on your head. Don't worry - it's natural here. If you are in Uladh then you can begin talking to townspeople and doing various little quests here and there. If you started in Uladh, I strongly recommend going to the School and taking classes from both Ranald and Lassar (she's inside) as they provide a lot of information on the battle mechanics of the game. You should also ask about "skills" from everyone you talk to because really - you will want them all.

Why you ask? Skills, more than anything else, determine your stats and each of them have around 16 ranks of effectiveness. As an example, if there are 2 archers using the same bow - the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery will not do as much damage as the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery and Rank 1 refining. At first glance, refining has nothing to do with archery at all - until you realize that each rank gives a lot of dexterity, and every 4 points of dex increases ranged damage. It is due to little quirks like this that you should work on your "main" character for everything (fighting, magic, crafting, etc.) and use mules or alts purely for storage space.

MMORPG Korean Anime Heroes in Celtic Shakespearean Fantasy!

If that title elicited a "wtf" response from you, then you probably have never played Mabinogi. Developed by DevCat (Korea), this games sees players as cute, simple anime-styled characters which is very different to the crips character rendering of a game like Rappelz or even World of Warcraft. However if this doesn't bother you, this little gem offers loads of content and a dazzling amount of things to do with ever expanding content. While the main story arcs dealt with a very loose transtlation of celtic mythology, recent adventures have found players reliving parts of Shakespearean plays! If that sounds too wierd for you, don't worry - there's lots of other things to do! :P

Perhaps my biggest gripe about Mabinogi is that servers are separated by world regions. So while there are servers for Korea, Japan, China (I think), North America (where I play) and most recently Europe - you are restricted on where you can play which means my guildmates in London and Switzerland cannot join me on Mabinogi NA nor can I join them on Mabinogi EU - at least not without the use and hassle of 3rd party products.

Like a number of other MMORPG's while majority of the content is free, there is a "cash shop" where you can spend real money on some exclusive items, additional character cards, and uberly cute pets. All the storylines and quests ARE freely available though so if you can get by without a mount, a house in a city (you can have a house on your private estate though), and little gems that can summon a well endowed magic girl to ressurect you (these become handy later on), you can play through all of the content for free.

If you decide to try it out (on Mabinogi NA at least) I strongly suggest making a human character as your base, as you can get one free elf and one free giant when you reach their cities later on. You will want to visit and research skills on Mabinogi Wiki too, as there are interesting quirks to ranking them up. Also the skills need to be practiced enough times before you are qualified to gain rank in them. Sword mastery for example may dictate you need to kill one hundred awful creatures and one boss monster before you can rank it up, and what determines what exactly are awful and boss monsters is your own level. In the example I just gave, a brand new player may only have to kill 100 wolves and 1 bear to complete that, whereas a level 1000 player would be looking at 100 demons and 1 dragon to achieve the same requirement.

"Level 1000!?" I hear you exclaim. Yup, and those are the mid-level players like me. The true vets are around level 4000 in my server cluster. I'm sure there are those in Korea who are OVER 9000! What then can pose you a threat when you have all those zeroes in your level count? Everything, and at the same time - nothing. That's because of the combat system present in game which I absolutely love. It's a rock paper scissors affair where using the wrong skill or mis-timing your strike often leads to a lot of ouchies heading your way.

As an example Your normal attack can be deflected with defense, but if you know that's what your foe is doing you can use a heavy hit and smash through instead. However if you used the heavy hit and your enemy goes for a standard attack, you will be the one taking damage as the standard hit swings faster. Throw in around fifty more battle related skills and you get the idea. Much more fun than the "use special 1", then "use special 2" while special 1 cools down employed in many other MMORPGs.

This means that having skilled characters just means they can dish out and take more damage, but a low level character in the hands of a skilled player with enough potions to keep his stamina (and/or mana) up can beat the same level of opponents, just at a slower pace. Ofcourse this means lag favours the monsters and you will have to read your foes and time your actions well. :P



There are almost as many non-combat skills available too, such as fishing, cooking, tailoring, blacksmithing, refining, alchemy, handicraft, carpentry, etc. Some have their own fun mini-games to complete and special events (on Mabi NA at least) seem to run every fortnight, making sure that people don't run out of things to do. Some  people even ignore all of this and just use it as a glorified chat server or just collect pets! 

If you want to give it a try, Mabinogi is free to play. Just google it up for your region. If you happen to join Mabinogi NA and pick the Ruairi server, you may run into Josephsky - thats me! ^_^